Alcohol tolerance
Psalm 118:24
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Alcohol tolerance
What is alcohol tolerance -- and how quickly does it change?
With St. Patrick's Day around the corner, many revelers are already busily coordinating their green outfits and drinking plans. But there's a difference between enjoying one green beer (or perhaps something similarly festive but a little bit healthier) and losing all control. St. Patrick's Day undeniably owns one of the top spots on any list of the drunkest holidays -- and tolerance (or lack there of) may never be so publicly on display.
So why can some people handle their liquor better than others? First, it's important to define what, exactly, tolerance is. There are two ways of thinking about it, says George F. Koob, Ph.D., the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Developing tolerance to alcohol -- or any drug -- means it takes more of that drug to produce the same effect -- or, looked at another way, the same amount of the drug produces less of an effect.
Some people are born with the ability to go round for round, showing minimal effects. A growing body of research from the University of California, San Diego among families with history of alcoholism has pinpointed low-sensitivity to alcohol in some people, or what Koob calls inherent tolerance. "These are basically individuals who drink everybody under the table and they're born that way," he says. "It's an intriguing neurobiological question as to why, but it still remains somewhat of a mystery." Ironically, this low-sensitivity actually seems to make someone more likely to become an alcoholic, he says.
But other people simply become more tolerant as they drink more. "In effect, to me, tolerance is the brain adapting to the drug," says Koob. There are different pathways by which the brain adapts, but the end result is that more alcohol is required to feel the same buzz.
There's likely a Pavlovian-esque learning response involved, he says. The brain learns the effects of alcohol and triggers a response to counter those effects. Then, the next time you throw a few back, your brain has already learned how to react. When we drink, our brains are constantly working to return our bodies to baseline. "When you remove the alcohol, that system is exposed as being overactive," says Koob. "That's what we call withdrawal."
On a day-to-day basis, you might have a different name for that withdrawal: hangover. What's called acute tolerance can develop over just a few hours, says Koob. Take your average picnic, he says. One beer might make you feel relaxed and sociable, but the third or fourth beer out on the lawn has much less noticeable of an effect. Technically, that's a form of tolerance building throughout the afternoon, he says. The more you drink at that picnic, the greater tolerance you develop -- and the worse you can expect to feel the next day.
Among people who are dependent on alcohol, adaptations can also take place elsewhere in the body, says Koob. Drinking a lot may cause liver enzymes that break down alcohol to become more active. "An alcoholic person could metabolize perhaps twice as fast and twice as much in a given amount of time as a non-alcoholic," he says.
The exact rate of building or decreasing your tolerance will vary greatly depending on how much you've been drinking and for how long, but you'll likely lose your tolerance at the same speed you gained it. A period of time spent teetotalling "will reverse a lot of the tolerance but not all of it," says Koob. That's because those pathways in the brain that adapted to the effects of alcohol show traces that changes have occurred forever. Pick up the bottle again and they're reactivated much more quickly. It's similar to riding a bike: Hopping back on after a hiatus takes a little re-learning when it comes to steering and balance, but it's infinitely easier than learning that first time. "The system is forever changed," says Koob. "Your response is not quite the same ever again."
Sarah KleinThe Huffington Post03/14/14 08:48 AM ET
With St. Patrick's Day around the corner, many revelers are already busily coordinating their green outfits and drinking plans. But there's a difference between enjoying one green beer (or perhaps something similarly festive but a little bit healthier) and losing all control. St. Patrick's Day undeniably owns one of the top spots on any list of the drunkest holidays -- and tolerance (or lack there of) may never be so publicly on display.
So why can some people handle their liquor better than others? First, it's important to define what, exactly, tolerance is. There are two ways of thinking about it, says George F. Koob, Ph.D., the director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Developing tolerance to alcohol -- or any drug -- means it takes more of that drug to produce the same effect -- or, looked at another way, the same amount of the drug produces less of an effect.
Some people are born with the ability to go round for round, showing minimal effects. A growing body of research from the University of California, San Diego among families with history of alcoholism has pinpointed low-sensitivity to alcohol in some people, or what Koob calls inherent tolerance. "These are basically individuals who drink everybody under the table and they're born that way," he says. "It's an intriguing neurobiological question as to why, but it still remains somewhat of a mystery." Ironically, this low-sensitivity actually seems to make someone more likely to become an alcoholic, he says.
But other people simply become more tolerant as they drink more. "In effect, to me, tolerance is the brain adapting to the drug," says Koob. There are different pathways by which the brain adapts, but the end result is that more alcohol is required to feel the same buzz.
There's likely a Pavlovian-esque learning response involved, he says. The brain learns the effects of alcohol and triggers a response to counter those effects. Then, the next time you throw a few back, your brain has already learned how to react. When we drink, our brains are constantly working to return our bodies to baseline. "When you remove the alcohol, that system is exposed as being overactive," says Koob. "That's what we call withdrawal."
On a day-to-day basis, you might have a different name for that withdrawal: hangover. What's called acute tolerance can develop over just a few hours, says Koob. Take your average picnic, he says. One beer might make you feel relaxed and sociable, but the third or fourth beer out on the lawn has much less noticeable of an effect. Technically, that's a form of tolerance building throughout the afternoon, he says. The more you drink at that picnic, the greater tolerance you develop -- and the worse you can expect to feel the next day.
Among people who are dependent on alcohol, adaptations can also take place elsewhere in the body, says Koob. Drinking a lot may cause liver enzymes that break down alcohol to become more active. "An alcoholic person could metabolize perhaps twice as fast and twice as much in a given amount of time as a non-alcoholic," he says.
The exact rate of building or decreasing your tolerance will vary greatly depending on how much you've been drinking and for how long, but you'll likely lose your tolerance at the same speed you gained it. A period of time spent teetotalling "will reverse a lot of the tolerance but not all of it," says Koob. That's because those pathways in the brain that adapted to the effects of alcohol show traces that changes have occurred forever. Pick up the bottle again and they're reactivated much more quickly. It's similar to riding a bike: Hopping back on after a hiatus takes a little re-learning when it comes to steering and balance, but it's infinitely easier than learning that first time. "The system is forever changed," says Koob. "Your response is not quite the same ever again."
Sarah KleinThe Huffington Post03/14/14 08:48 AM ET
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Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Ireland
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To me tolerance refers to a cut off or inflection point where heavy drinking turns into alcoholism.
Heavy drinkers drink lots and get drunk in a kind of normal relationship. The more you drink the drunker you get. It's linear.
Alcoholics with tolerance need more to produce the same effect. In the end I switched from beer to wine and from 1 bottle to 2. I wasn't getting any drunker the more I drank i was just drunk and blacked out.
Heavy drinkers drink lots and get drunk in a kind of normal relationship. The more you drink the drunker you get. It's linear.
Alcoholics with tolerance need more to produce the same effect. In the end I switched from beer to wine and from 1 bottle to 2. I wasn't getting any drunker the more I drank i was just drunk and blacked out.
voices ca**y
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: St. Paul Minnesota
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Great article. I knew what happened to me was different than my brother. Right out of the gate he could drink huge amounts. I was normal for quite some time. I changed my body and brain somehow with repeated exposure. Once I had that physical ability to drink without getting sick or dizzy it was on.
PS we would play together as kids he would get poison ivy several times a summer and I have never had it once.
PS we would play together as kids he would get poison ivy several times a summer and I have never had it once.
voices ca**y
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: St. Paul Minnesota
Posts: 4,359
I tried to get drunk 3 months after I quit. The changes my stomach had made to tolerate the extra alcohol had been completely reversed and then some. I read somewhere when you abuse alcohol your stomach lining will thicken. I got horribly sick from 3 drinks. My brain started to light up though screaming for more. I finally had to dump the bottle because I was afraid I would push through it.
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Join Date: Jul 2013
Posts: 3,359
Originally Posted by caboblanco 
30 beers in 3 hrs or so...get a call from my mom.talk for 30 mins....she didn't notice anything....in an hour or so I would start losing my buzz
that's where my tolerance was at
that's where my tolerance was at
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Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 1,949
My tolerance was high the first time i drank a lot so I don't know about that theory of low tolerance people being more prone to alcohol addiction...it just seems to be the difference of a sloppy alcoholic and an alcoholic you can't tell that's drunk
o i read it wrong..the high tolerance people are more prone..that makes more sense then
o i read it wrong..the high tolerance people are more prone..that makes more sense then
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Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Wisconsin
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One night last summer I drank a 1.75 of tequila without vomiting or passing out. Even though I didn't drink every single day my tolerance was abnormal. Apparently my height and weight (5"7, 140 pounds) had little effect on the amount of alcohol I could handle once I developed a high tolerance for it.
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Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Maine
Posts: 3,649
How drunk I got depended on the conditions. If I hadn't eaten that day the effect was pretty bad.
I know that at the end I could drink a beer in 15 minutes and by the end of the night (that's if I remembered the end of the night) I had probably drank somewhere around 15 beers. At one point I remember thinking that if I were drinking soda I would have never been able to drink that many.
I really knew that there was a problem when I was going to my brother's house which was a 15 minute drive and contemplated opening a beer while on my way. I couldn't even wait 15 minutes.
Tolerating the amount wasn't where my issue came in. The overwhelming increased need was the problem. At the end it was bad and even the joy of the initial buzz glow wasn't even enjoyable. It was just about getting as much into me as I could as quickly as I could. I was like someone who had just made a two day trek through the desert being offered water.
I know that at the end I could drink a beer in 15 minutes and by the end of the night (that's if I remembered the end of the night) I had probably drank somewhere around 15 beers. At one point I remember thinking that if I were drinking soda I would have never been able to drink that many.
I really knew that there was a problem when I was going to my brother's house which was a 15 minute drive and contemplated opening a beer while on my way. I couldn't even wait 15 minutes.
Tolerating the amount wasn't where my issue came in. The overwhelming increased need was the problem. At the end it was bad and even the joy of the initial buzz glow wasn't even enjoyable. It was just about getting as much into me as I could as quickly as I could. I was like someone who had just made a two day trek through the desert being offered water.
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